


I Never Caught How You Became A Part Of My Life

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Aftermath, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Character Death Fix, Character Study, Comfort/Angst, Daddy Issues, Dysfunctional Family, Father Figures, Father-Daughter Relationship, Guilt, Major Character Injury, Multi, Older Man/Younger Woman, Permanent Injury, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-27
Updated: 2013-07-31
Packaged: 2017-12-21 12:53:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/900553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck Hansen was supposed to be a boy.<br/>She wasn't.<br/>Chuck Hansen was supposed to be a sweet girl.<br/>She wasn't.<br/>Chuck Hansen was supposed to die.<br/>She didn't.<br/>Chuck Hansen wasn't supposed to worm her way into Raleigh's mind and heart. Until she did, causing everyone around her, including herself, to re-evaluate everything that she is, rather than what she's not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly never expected to write about Chuck Hansen, since I wasn't supposed to give a damn about him. But I guess after watching the movie twice, I realized that there was more to him than just his presentation and it was clinched for me when Stacker sums him up by telling him he is his father's son. 
> 
> We know Herc is a good man, so despite how Chuck acts, there is still some of the goodness of his father in him. Had he survived in canon, we probably could have seen a progression of this as he came into his own. So this story was written and I also wanted to see how Herc and Chuck would have interacted if Chuck was a girl. 
> 
> Again, story has been proofed, but there are mistakes, my apologies.

Herc lowered his head and closed his eyes the moment that they heard Raleigh tell Mako he couldn't breathe. It was the only sign of grief that he allowed himself to show in the Shatterdome. The world had been saved.

But at the cost of so, so many lives.

One of them being of his Chuck.

He shuddered as he took a deep breath, the precursor of tears and grief. Herc didn't give in though. He was afraid that if he even dared give it a bit of leeway, the damn would burst and the grief would flood him and he'd never stop feeling it all. He wouldn't be free of his grief. He had learned after his wife had died, in that first attack on Darwin.

Herc didn't want to remember those days, since they were tinged with the shame of not being there for his child. He had buried himself in work to do anything to distract himself from his loss, forgetting that Chuck needed him and missed her mother as badly as he did.

He had tried to make up for his neglect, but Chuck wouldn't have it. Her flinty exterior, her egotism had been already deeply entrenched. It was very briefly that she would let him see the whole of her, most of it hidden until they were drifting together.

She, so much like him and so little like her mother never spoke of it. But Herc had caught her looking at him and despite the lack of words between them had known she understood. Just like he had understood why she had been so reckless and never let anyone other than him in. Just like he had understood the antagonism she held for Raleigh and the simmering anger she held for Mako.

He never spoke of it to her.

And he never would and the idea of not being able to look at her again and to roughly mess up her hair, or find her hair ties all over the place, or smell the grassy scent of her soap...He bit his lip and shook his head.

"Sir! Sir! We have another signal!"

Herc's head shot up and he leaned over Choi's shoulder to look at the screen. His heart clenched in his chest as he saw the green dot and the beeps that accompanied it.

"Mako! Raleigh! Do you see anything?" Herc barked out.

"Sir! Yes! Four o'clock from where we are! Raleigh's gone to check!"

Mako replied, making Choi turn and look at Herc, who was blinking rapidly. His eyes were fixed on the screen and Choi could see Herc's lips moving silently.

"It's...It's Chuck. She's alive, but she's banged up pretty bad. Can you get some choppers here quick? She needs help."

"You heard him!" Herc finally barked out the orders, surprising everyone. "Get going!"

The unspoken order to get his daughter is understood and Choi barks orders in compliance.

If Herc slumped over the console in relief, no one mentioned it.

~*~*~*~

Raleigh had just watched the medics wheel Chuck into the medical station when Herc showed up with Tendo trailing behind him. Herc's face was drawn and his jaw was twitching, his eyes going narrow when he took in the blood on Raleigh's face and suit.

"She just went in." Raleigh blurted out, afraid if he didn't, Herc might very well go in there and demand to see his daughter.

Herc gave him a tight nod, before he sighed heavily. He rubbed his face roughly with his good hand and looked at Raleigh.

"How was she?"

Raleigh's mouth opened and closed at the blunt question and had to take his time to get an answer ready. Especially since he hadn't even begun to process how Chuck had survived and the injuries she had suffered.

"She was burnt, sir." Raleigh answered.

Herc nodded as if he had been expecting that and it gave him the permission he needed to talk about the rest.

"Her legs were damaged and I don't know what else. She was unconscious when I got to her."

"A small mercy at least." Herc replied, a shadow of sorrow crossing it before he went stone faced and looked at Raleigh.

"Go get cleaned up and get some rest. I'll stay with her now."

Raleigh nodded and moved to go, passing by Herc as he did so.

"Sir."

Herc gave him a sharp nod, all business at least until Raleigh saw the gratitude in his eyes.

He nodded back to Herc and left him speaking with Tendo and guarding the doors to where Chuck lay.

Raleigh didn't think much about Chuck as he made his way back to the Shatterdome to get his suit off and cleaned up. He didn't want to remember her broken and scorched body and the smell of charred flesh. Nor of the way she had moaned brokenly and her eyes fluttered as he had carefully eased her out of the pod, wincing at the sight of her reddened skin showing in the cracks and gouges of her suit.

He had lied to Herc about her being unconscious. 

She had been awake when he had pulled her out. Not completely, but enough to realize that she was now safe and it was him. She had cried out brokenly when he had jolted her legs, but other than that, she was silent. She had passed out from the pain.

She had been put in the pod after one of the big hits, Raleigh realized. She hadn't done it by herself and the realization made his respect for the Marshal grow even more. Despite being even more injured and on the brink, he had made the effort to get Chuck to safety and to her father.

Raleigh had to shake his head as he pulled on his clothing once he was dried off. The Marshal had done Herc one final favour and Raleigh only hoped that Chuck would live long enough to honour it. He had only seen the superficial injuries, but there could be more. There was always more.

He had finished dressing when he paused. Why the hell did he care so much about that egotistical brat? She had done nothing but insult him since he had arrived and had even goaded him into a fight that he handed her ass in. She had called him a washed-up has been and embarrassed her father in showing her disdain so openly.

Raleigh didn't get it, why he cared so much about her well-being. After all, he didn't believe she'd return the favour.

But then the memory of Herc's face and the ragged relief in his voice made him realize that it wasn't just for Chuck he was doing it for. But for Herc. He had, at least, spared the man the loss of his daughter. He had lost Yancy. Mako had lost the Marshall. If at least one of them could be spared the loss, Raleigh would count that as a victory. 

But despite coming to a suitable answer, Raleigh had a feeling it still wasn't a complete answer. He also had a feeling he wouldn't get one for a very long time as well.

He sighed and went to the mess hall. He wasn't hungry, but it was something to do before he headed back to the medical station to check on how Herc was holding up.

He would deny it if anyone assumed he was also checking on Chuck as well.

~*~*~*~*~

Mako came by later with Max, who had been running around looking forlorn and lost without Chuck and Herc to keep him company. She had also thoughtfully brought some food in case Herc would be persuaded to eat and drink something. Even if he wasn't keen on it, she would try and get him to do so. He was their commanding officer and it wouldn't do if he collapsed while waiting for Chuck to come through.

Herc was slumped in a chair, his eyes fixed on the metal grid floor as he waited for the verdict on his daughter. Mako approached him gently, not quite wanting to intrude, yet needing to make sure that he was taking care of himself. She had had practice though, with-

She slammed the door shut on that thought. She wasn't ready to deal with that grief just yet. 

"Sir?"

Herc's head rose up and she could see that he was tired, dreadfully so. But there was no way that he could leave when his daughter's status was unknown. 

"I've brought Max and some food. How is she?"

Herc smiled tiredly at her and accepted the package of food. She kept a hold on Max's leash while Herc pet him almost abstentmindedly.

"There's no change. They're still working on her."

Mako nodded and delicately sat down on the other empty chair beside Herc. Max flopped down beside Herc and put his head on his paws, his eyes focused on the doors where his mistress was.

They sat in silence, with Herc picking at the food Mako had brought until she broke the silence. 

"Chuck will pull through. She was always strong. Sasha always said so after we trained together." 

Herc snorted and shook his head at that. He knew that his daughter overcompensated due to insecurity and wanted to be the best to get his attention most of all. The praise of Sasha would be close enough and he made a mental note to tell her about Sasha's praise, something that he was sure the aggresively feminine woman wouldn't have ever breathed out to his daughter. 

"She's strong. But being stubborn will probably get her further. She never knew when to give up. For good or ill."

Mako smiled at that, but didn't refute it. She wasn't friends with Chuck. She never quite understood why they hadn't ever gotten past the unspoken rivalry of the academy, considering that they had so many parallels between them: Both of their father figures were pilots and high in the army, their goals had always been the same. They were close to the same age. But there was always a distance between them. A distance that had grown even further when Raleigh had shown up. There was a new hardness in Chuck's eyes and a resentment that she had verbalized in ways she knew that would cut Mako deeply. It wasn't until after they had saved Striker Eureka that Chuck had warmed up. Well, as much as she had been able. 

Mako had made her peace with that being the last interaction between herself and Chuck and it wasn't a great one, like it had been with her Sensei. 

"I hated that about her, yet if it hadn't been for that, she wouldn't have survived,"  Herc paused and turned to look at Mako before he continued. 

"We were living on the coast, in Darwin and the Kaijus attacked and she kept her head about her. She was the one that figured out to hide. She wasn't scared, like other children were. When I had to leave her in Alice Springs, she didn't cry."

He shook his head and looked straight ahead. "She was determined to show me she was strong enough so that I didn't have to worry about her and that she could take care of herself. I don't think I've seen her cry since that first attack, come to think of it."

Herc clamped his mouth shut and instead looked at the food still on his lap, his face flushed with embarrassment at having said so much to Mako when he couldn't even say it to his daughter. Yes, they had been inside each other's heads. She knew. But Herc was fully aware that he could have said something to her at least once. 

Mako's eyes widened at the revelations. She had known, dimly in the way that they knew of her family, what had pushed Herc and Chuck into the piloting program. She hadn't dared ask or offer comfort. She didn't feel that it was her place. Nor did she want to draw more attention to a situation that Herc and Chuck were acutely sensitive and uncomfortable about and would be for a very long time now that Chuck hadn't died.

Mako only sat back in her chair and watched as Herc finally mustered enough appetite to eat. 

There was nothing else they could do now, but wait. 

~*~*~*~*

Chuck woke up to painfully bright lights and someone holding onto her left hand. She had no real feeling in her right hand, swathed in gauze as it was. Squinting, she slowly moved her head to see her Father clutching her hand while he slept in a chair beside her bed. The sight of him sleeping made something twist and jerk in her chest. She hadn't seen him look so vulnerable in such a long time and although she was glad that he was beside her so she wouldn't have to wake up alone...She also hated that he could see her in her time of weakness and thus needed to stay beside her. 

She was his daughter. His Charlotte. But she also knew she was selfish and needy. Insecure and bitter about always having to be the second thing her father thought of when they were in the Jaeger. She wanted to be the only thing he thought of and now, she didn't want it. She didn't need for him to sacrifice his well-being for her. Not anymore. 

She swallowed hard as the truths came through her haze of disbelief and drugs. She had been a crap daughter, punishing him and hero-worshipping him in a tangle of confused emotions ever since Darwin. She could admit to that now that she had so narrowly escaped dying. Maybe possibly even tell him rather than trusting him to always know due to them spending so much time in each other's heads. 

Her father's head rose at that moment and he blinked at her twice as he looked at her bandaged face and open eyes. 

She tried to smile at him and he returned it, despite it being watery and barely a real smile. But he returned it.

"I'm so glad you're alive." 

Chuck blinked at those words. She had been expecting an expression of pride at her accomplishments. Maybe a joke. But not that and she was completely unprepared.  

He smiled at her again and loosened his grip on her hand to run his fingers through her hair. Shorter than before, but still there. Chuck leaned into the touch, letting her eyes close as she enjoyed the feel of her father's fingers going through the strands. She wanted to say something. Anything to tip the balance in her court and make her feel less powerless and fragile with it. 

She opened her mouth, but she couldn't find anything to say. The words weren't coming, no matter how hard she tried to make them. They just weren't coming. 

 


	2. My Defences Need To Come Down. They're Useless, You See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako and Raleigh offer all the help that they can to Herc and Chuck, realizing a few truths about the Hansens on the way there. Raleigh also has to do some soul searching, while Chuck has to come to terms with having to re-define who she really is once again.

Mako and Raleigh were waiting for Herc in the mess hall once he was finally thrown out by the nurses on duty with strict instructions to not come back until he had showered, eaten and slept at least twelve hours. Mako had been there and had filled Raleigh in with the rest. Both of them had been impressed that the nurses had managed that feat, since the Elder Hansen had a mulish streak almost as wide as his daughter's. He had been a fixture in the room since Chuck had been moved there after the numerous medical procedures that had pulled her from the brink.  
  
Although Chuck was mostly too drugged up to really respond to Herc being there, he didn't want to leave his daughter alone. Mako could understand his reasons after the eye-opening revelations he had shared with her as the doctors worked on Chuck. He wanted to be there for his daughter when he hadn't been there for her before when she needed him. Just like Sensei would have been there for her if they had been in the same situation.  
  
They hadn't seen Herc for about a day while the man slept and got cleaned up and got some food in him. Mako had achieved the latter by promising she and Raleigh would stay with Chuck as much as their duties permitted. Even though Herc had gotten a strange look on his face when Mako had said that, he had only nodded his head and gone off to refuel and get some space from his long vigil.  
  
"Sir."  
  
Raleigh greeted the older man as he grabbed a cup of the tepid coffee and a plate of the usual lunch chow and sat next to him and Mako.  
  
"Raleigh. Mako. I'm sorry. I won't be staying long. The doctors want to talk about Chuck's injuries and treatment."  
  
Mako and Raleigh looked at each other worriedly. They had heard the shopping list of injuries Chuck had incurred: Third and Second degree burns, multiple broken bones, punctured organs, missing fingers and radiation exposure. Although the medical stations were equipped to deal with serious injuries, they had to admit that if the doctors decided to move Chuck they wouldn't be in the wrong to do so.  
  
Although it wasn't for certain that she would have been moved, Raleigh and Mako both felt a pang of loss at the idea of Chuck being plucked out of the Shatterdome. She was a brat, arrogant and a pain in the ass, but she was a Ranger.  
  
She was one of theirs and she needed to be there, with them. Raleigh, out of all of them knew how little she would be able to cope outside. Especially now that she was relic from an ended war. Even though he didn't think so, he suspected that she would classify herself in the same category as she had classified Raleigh the first time she had spoken to him.  
  
And he knew that would crush her.  
  
He looked at Mako and saw similar doubts and worries mirrored in her dark eyes and expression.  
  
And as always, she was the one to verbalize her concerns.  
  
"Sir...would Chuck have to be moved out of the medical station?"  
  
Herc put his cup down and looked down at his plate, the muscle in his cheek jumping as he fought an internal battle with himself before replying. He finally took a deep breath and looked at Raleigh and Mako, both who were watching him with barely contained anticipation at his answer.  
  
"It's not quite in the cards yet. I don't think that it is. But if it happens, I'll fight it. Charlotte's not ready to face the outside world yet."  
  
The last was said so quietly and so brokenly that they had to strain to hear him speak.  
  
Herc snorted and pushed the half-eaten tray away.  
  
"I know my daughter. Better than anyone. Maybe even better than she knows herself and I'm sure she could say the same about me. I know she's too fragile to face the world as a wounded soldier when she had faced it as an indestructible hero and the media would tear her apart."  
  
He paused and looked at Raleigh.  
  
"Even worse than you and Yancy. Or even Mako."  
  
He shook his head and abruptly finished off the last of his coffee and grabbed his tray. There was a dull flush creeping up his neck and cheeks, as if he was embarrassed he had said too much.  
  
Mako worried her lip, but Raleigh remained silent and still. He understood what Herc was saying. And despite understanding it, Raleigh felt sorry that Herc was being forced to plan for that situation in his fierce desire to shelter his daughter now that he could to make up for failing her so many times before.  
  
He understood and that was why he found himself reaching over and putting his hand on Herc's wrist to stop him.  
  
"You will let us know, if you need us to be with Chuck?"  
  
Herc blinked a couple of times before he nodded his head in understanding.  
  
"They're running tests right now and she'll probably be with doctors after that as well. But maybe tomorrow you could stop by and check on her? Both of you?"  
  
He asked, his neutral tone belying the cautious hope of his face.  
  
Mako nodded and Raleigh followed suit, pulling his hand away from Herc's wrist.  
  
They watched Herc leave and once he was out of the mess hall, Mako turned to Raleigh. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him and Raleigh stifled the urge to squirm in his seat under the weight of her scrutiny.  
  
"Did I miss something happening between you and Chuck Hansen? Because last time I saw you both in the same space, she was trying to rip your face off with her nails while both of you were rolling around on the floor."  
  
Raleigh felt his face go pink at the mention of what had happened the last time he and Chuck had been in close proximity. Although he had beaten her and given her a shiner, she had managed a few dirty hits on him as well.  
  
She had also managed to get him hard and if Herc hadn't pulled Chuck off, she would have undoubtedly found that out. Raleigh was forever grateful to Herc that he had been spared that humiliation. He was also sure that if Herc knew, he'd be getting a beating from the older man for daring to inappropriately touch his daughter.  
  
"No. You didn't."  
  
"Then?"  
  
Raleigh sighed.  
  
"I've seen the media go after pilots. Especially the female ones and they tore them apart over trifles. We got lucky Yancy and I didn't get that. But if Chuck was to be in a civilian hospital and with how weak she is, how long do you think she'd last?"  
  
Mako nodded, the realization finally sinking in.  
  
"Still. That was a downright friendly gesture towards Chuck Hansen that you made there. If I noticed, don't you think Herc did also?"  
  
Raleigh felt his hands go cold at that. He hadn't meant it in any other way other than concern for Chuck.  
  
Mako smiled at him, her face turning impish as she did so, making Raleigh groan quietly.  
  
"It's nothing like that, Mako."  
  
Mako only smiled wider and Raleigh simply shut his mouth and stopped protesting.  
  
It wasn't anything like that.  
  
At all.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Raleigh had been quite surprised when he had found himself heading toward Chuck's room again. He had mulled over going back for the better part of an hour until he finally decided that it was the decent thing to do. After all, it would have been downright churlish after the conversation that he, Herc and Mako had at the mess hall earlier.  
  
Besides, he told himself. Mako had spent several hours sitting with Herc after the meeting with the doctors had been finished. It was the least he could do in the circumstances.  
  
He also wanted to stop running away from the nagging unease he had felt ever since he had pulled Chuck out and then the conversation with Mako. He didn't think that it would magically disappear after he saw or talked to Chuck again, but he could hope that it would. He wasn't used to spending so much time thinking about someone that he was barely on civil speaking terms with.  
  
He also wanted to dispel the fancy that Mako had about his intentions towards Chuck. He and Chuck, they were nowhere near having an attraction. Raleigh was sure that if he was ready to be with anyone, it would most likely be the person that had spent the most time in his head.  
  
He paused and really thought about that for a moment. Did he feel that way about Mako? Could he feel that way about her? Although they had the intimacy already and he did find her attractive (and she him) he wasn't sure that neither of them had those kinds of feelings towards each other.  
  
He wasn't confused when he was with Mako. He didn't second guess himself or flush when she was near him or touching him. He knew her as intimately as she knew him. But was he in love with her?  
  
Raleigh snorted quietly as he turned the corner and went to the room that Mako had told him they had placed Chuck after the meeting. He was not going to think about that. At least not until he got this mess with Chuck cleared up. He raised his hand to knock to announce his presence, but stopped himself when he saw that both Hansens were out cold: Chuck on the bed and Herc on a chair dragged up to the side of the bed with the least machinery.  
  
He winced at the sight of the tubes and monitors, recalling his own stint in the hospital all too well right after he had lost Yancy. He mentally winced at that, but didn't shy away from the fact. The ache was still there, coupled with so many other things and it was easing...But being in a hospital room with an injured Chuck brought it back.  
  
To distract himself, he looked at Chuck and realized that this was the first time since she nearly died that he had gotten a good look at her. A real good look, rather than just the superficial glances he had cast her way before. He noted that if it hadn't been for the bandages that covered most of her body and the tubes in her nose and lines in the unburned areas...She'd almost look like she'd be merely sleeping.  
  
Raleigh's eyes traveled upwards and he flinched at the spiky shortness of her hair.It was almost as short as Herc's and he wondered how she would feel when she realized it was gone. He remembered she had been proud of her coppery hair and even though it hadn't been as elaborately styled as Sasha's, Raleigh could tell that Chuck took pride in how healthy and long it was.  
  
It had been singed off, Raleigh suddenly recalled the corrosive stench of burnt hair and how it had just broken off when he had held her. His hand itched to touch it as a morbid curiosity as to what it felt like now that the damaged parts were cut off. He gave into the impulse without thinking and was surprised at how soft her hair was as he ran his fingers through the strands.  
  
Raleigh was stunned too, at how open Chuck's expression was as he stroked her hair. She was actually kind of-  
  
He stopped that thought and yanked his hand away from her as if his fingers had been burned. He didn't want to go down that route. Not when she was injured and there were so many things that were horribly unresolved between them.  
  
Her eyes fluttered when he did that and she stirred a bit, her face scrunching into a pained frown close to the one she habitually had whenever she was displeased. She moaned quietly and her eyes finally opened. Her gaze was unfocused at first, but when she saw him, her entire face went slack in surprise.  
  
Raleigh wet his lips and moved closer before he finally was able to string a sentence together.  
  
But as always, she was the one to throw the first punch.  
  
"What are you doing here, Raleigh?"  
  
It was spoken in a quiet voice, but there was no trace of the usual belligerence or anger in the words. Rather, it sounded like she was surprised and another undercurrent he couldn't quite figure out, but would think about later lest he was flattering himself about it.  
  
"I came to see how you were doing. You didn't exactly look your best when I-when Mako and I started sitting with you."  
  
Raleigh replied, noting how a flash of jealousy flashed in her eyes at the mention of Mako's name and disappeared as fast as it had come. It was something that he wouldn't have expected from her. Chuck Hansen, from what he had figured out, wasn't into subtlety. She was her father's daughter, with her abrasive bluntness that was for sure.  
  
So to see her hide that away made Raleigh wonder again if what he had gotten from her question wasn't just something he had fancied after all.  
  
She smiled, her mouth pulling a bit to the right from the medical tape that covered the burn on her face. She lifted her right hand that although was covered thickly with gauze, had no lines or splints on it and gestured at her body. Or she tried to, since her hand trembled and she winced when she moved her fingers.  
  
"It's not my best, but it's better than being a corpse."  
  
She replied tersely, her hand dropping onto the pillow it had been resting on. She tried to keep the pain from showing, but it was evident in the slight sheen of sweat on her upper lip and the curl of her lip. Raleigh was tempted to ask if she needed a nurse, but the withering look she shot him when he opened his mouth made him raise his hands in defeat.  
  
The last thing he needed was to be seen as if he was picking a fight with her, something he was sure would happen if he kept on treading that path.  
  
"Yeah. I get that feeling. After Yancy..." He trailed off and shook his head. Even though inside his head, he had made his peace with Yancy's death, it still hurt too much to talk about him. Especially to Chuck, even though she didn't look dismissive or disinterested.  
  
"I remember Yancy." She abruptly offered, her face flushing when he looked at her in mute shock. She turned and looked at Herc, who was still deeply asleep and dead to the world.  
  
"Dad talked about you guys. He used to talk about how Yancy was a Ranger born to it." She shook her head and paused to wet her cracked lips. She turned back to him and sighed as she recalled a long ago memory.  
  
"I watched the reels when I was a cadet. Over and over again. Trying to study your technique. Get your moves categorized."  
  
She flushed an even darker shade and even though she was discomfited at the revelation, Raleigh was secretly flattered she had paid that much attention to their fighting reels.  
  
"I wanted to be the best and I studied from the best." She murmured after a machine beeped, nearly making Raleigh jump until he realized she was getting another dose of medication. Sure enough, her eyes were going glassy and cloudy and her lips slurred a few more words before they closed and she was deeply asleep.  
  
Raleigh watched her sleep for a few moments in silence, mulling over the information he had just received when Herc's sleep-roughened voice broke the relative silence of the room.  
  
"She was obsessed with you both and Gypsy when she was younger."  
  
Raleigh looked up and saw Herc sitting there, smiling somewhat ruefully at his sleeping daughter.  
  
"She toyed with being a Ranger, just like me. But when you and your brother came around, that cemented the deal for her. Her mother dying was what made her want to beat me."  
  
Raleigh swallowed hard at that, but Herc didn't notice and continued talking.  
  
"Did you ever want to be better than Yancy? Even though you were drift compatible? He didn't have to work at being a pilot. Not like you did."  
  
Raleigh bit his lip.  
  
Did he ever want to beat Yancy?  
  
Sure, they were brothers and had the sibling rivalry that comes with having brothers. But he had never had the desire to be better than Yancy. He was happy that Yancy was his co-pilot and Yancy felt the same.  
  
He wondered too, if he would have even been able to pilot Gypsy if either of them had that in their heads. He was positive, after mulling it over that the answer would have been no.  
  
"Honestly? I have more respect for you both, managing to pilot, never mind fight, Kaijus with that in your heads. But to answer your question. Never. Yancy knew my weaknesses and I knew his and that kept us grounded and a fighting unit. A good one until Alaska."  
  
Herc nodded, but his eyes never left Raleigh's face, making him uncomfortable in the same degree that Mako had made him uncomfortable back in the mess hall. Both Herc and Mako were looking for something and Raleigh hoped that whatever it was that Herc was looking for, that he had found it already.  
  
When Herc did finally turn his gaze to Chuck, Raleigh had to wonder if the older man had found the answer that he was searching for.  
  
"You don't have to stay. I'll sit with her. I've got too many nights of leaving her alone with only Max for company."  
  
Raleigh muttered something in response and exited the room, his uneasiness tripled, rather than eradicated by the exchanges he had with both the Hansens. Something that made him wonder whether if he really wanted to be pulled in.  
  
He paused in his tracks when it hit him: He already was.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It wasn't a good day for Chuck.  
  
Despite being stuck in the hospital, most of her days had blurred in a not unpleasant haze of having Herc, Mako and Raleigh sitting with her as they worked to ease the tedium of being stuck in the Medical Station. She hated that she was so weak and dependent on everyone, the burns and the breaks leaving her helpless until they healed enough for her to move about.  
  
Even if it meant hobbling around on crutches; She'd take that over lying in bed any day and enduring having her bandages changed. That was the worst for her. Not only had to deal with the physical pain that it brought, but also had her feelings regarding her injuries forcefully pushed to the front and center of her mind.  
  
She had known that she would be scarred, that the burns in some areas were serious. That her last two fingers on her right hand couldn't be saved despite their best efforts. That she had enough pins in her femurs to set off metal detectors when she finally traveled.  
  
All of that, she was aware of.  
  
But it wasn't until she would see the raw skin and the stitches and the new skin on her hand and reach up to push her hair out of her face that it hit her anew. She didn't want anyone to see her that way. It was fine when the drugs hazed everything and she could deal with it.  
  
It wasn't fine now that she had to face her damaged body in the sober coldness of the day. She had always been proud of what she looked like and what she could do. Growing up in the Outback and then heading to the Ranger Academy had made her strong and lethal. She was proud of being able to knock out the pigs whose hands had traveled too far, just like she was proud of the Kaijus she and her father knocked out to bits.  
  
She still had hope it was going to be that way again. She was used to hard work and discipline. She could do it again.  
  
Her hopes were tarnished when she was told of the limitations she would face. She'd never be a pilot again. She'd never run again, her left leg being so shattered that she'd be limping on it for the rest of her life. Her lungs weren't at a hundred percent and her spleen was gone. But hey, the radiation exposure was minimal and wouldn't affect her in the future.  
  
Maybe there was more, but after that she had been too numb to listen and had trusted her father to do it for her. Just like she had trusted him to gingerly embrace her after it was all said and done.  
  
She knew that she hadn't sought the shelter of his arms for years. Not since she had been a child, but she needed it now. She couldn't go on alone. Not after receiving such news.  
  
But her father couldn't stay.  
  
After Pentecost's death, running the Jaeger program had fallen to him as the next highest ranking officer. They had understood his need to be with Chuck in the early days, but he couldn't neglect his responsibilities any longer. She understood and she didn't mind.  
  
Especially since she needed to be alone to mourn who she had been again.  
  
That was how Raleigh found her three hours later: Lying on her side and rubbing at the stumps of where her ring and pinky fingers had been. She wished she had Max there at least, but the doctors had been concerned about him being so close to her still healing wounds and he had been handed off to Tendo, who didn't mind looking after the dog.  
  
She heard him and looked up when he stopped in the door way of the room, yet didn't enter. He wasn't unobservant. Nor was he callous enough to barge in if she wanted to be left alone.  
  
If it had been a different time, she would have done her best to drive him away so that she could wallow in her misery and become bitter with it. She would have done that before, when she was angrier and had something to prove.  
  
She had proven herself. There was no need for her to put on the armour anymore and keep everyone at bay. She knew that, from the three hours she had actually sat down and taken the time to reflect upon herself and her choices. She didn't have to be that person any longer. It was time to slough off that skin and figure out where she stood without the past crowding up into her mind.  
  
"Hey, Chuck, if it's a bad-"  
  
"No. Just come in, Raleigh. It's starting to get weird with you hovering."  
  
It wasn't until she had snapped at him did he move to sit in his usual spot beside her bed. She had expected him to tell her some news about how the Jaegers and the Shatterdome were being decommissioned. But he didn't and sat there, waiting for her to say something just like the shrink they had sent to her to talk about how she felt.  
  
"What?"  
  
She finally snapped after she had enough of him staring at her thoughtfully.  
  
"You were crying."  
  
She huffed, but didn't deny it and instead only kept rubbing at the smooth skin of her hand.  
  
"I'm-"  
  
"Raleigh, if you're going to stay, don't. I don't need your bloody pity, awright?"  
  
"Then what do you need?"  
  
"For you to be here. That's enough."  
  
Raleigh nodded and moved the chair closer, so that there was almost no space left between them. He looked at her before he gently reached over and covered her injured hand with his. His movements were slow and carefully deliberate, letting Chuck have an out if she needed it.  
  
But she didn't move away and kept her gaze on him.  
  
"I can do that."  
  
Chuck nodded and closed her eyes briefly before she spoke again.  
  
"Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a few things from the books in regards to Yancy being a natural pilot compared to Raleigh and how Chuck is just determined to be the best no matter what the cost and how it would affect her relationship with Herc inside and outside the drift. Yes, they are sort of emotionally stunted, but not as much as before since Chuck nearly died and she realizes, slowly, that she can't be the same as she was. 
> 
> She's not conceited, but it would be traumatizing to know how her body works to be reduced to being dependent and pushed into being humble and needing help. She knows she has to change, but she has ways to go.
> 
> The fight scene-My exes have commented on them getting accidental boners during a fight due to the body's response to stimuli, not because the guy just got spontaneously horny.
> 
> Mako and Raleigh-I think that there can be intimacy without needing to sleep with someone and even though they give each other looks...I don't see them being automatically sexually attracted to each other. They need each other, but I think that yes, you can have love without the sexual component. Sometimes, sex isn't the end goal when you are so close to someone.
> 
> I love Mako and she's going to have a bigger role in the next chapter, but sex with Raleigh isn't going to be in the cards, kind of thing.


	3. I Hear You. You Hear Me. It's Not Much, But It's Enough For Us To Keep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako and Herc's shared pasts come to haunt them and Raleigh as always, has his co-pilot's back and confronts Chuck.
> 
> Chuck, meanwhile gives him answers and more than she had planned to give, with unexpected; but pleasant results for her, Raleigh, Herc and Mako.

Herc walked briskly to Chuck's room, his stride purposeful as he moved through the halls. Even though he was tired after yet another long day of dealing with scientists, government types and the rest of the Defence Corps, he was looking forward to seeing Chuck and telling her the news.

He made a mental note to make sure that her room in the barracks they shared would be clean and was compiling a list of things she would need when he collided with a much smaller body. He acted on instinct and grabbed them.

It wasn't until he felt the fragile bones under his hands and looked down to see that it was a flustered Mako that he had nearly flattened on his way to Chuck's room.

"Oh! Mako! I'm sorry, girl. Didn't see where I was going there. You all right?"

Mako nodded, her eyes lowered and he belatedly realized that she wasn't as tactile as he was. Stacker had adored her, but he wasn't the most effusive man that Herc knew and he understood the reasons why. Stacker had no choice but to be the man apart from mostly all of them. It was Mako that kept him from completely cutting himself off from his emotions.

He let her go and backed away, giving her room. After all, he did tend to loom over most women. Even Chuck and she was no shrinking violet, at nearly six feet and he knew she felt awkward about it, but wouldn't back down or let him do it either.

Mako though, seemed grateful for the space. Her face though, was still flushed and he had to wonder whether there had been validity to what he had seen during the drift. Or if it was his daughter simply projecting her jealousy over not being the most important woman in his life.

"Did you just come from visiting Chuck?" He asked, giving her an out and also to push the idea out of his mind.

"Mhm. She told me to get something to eat, since we didn't have time in the afternoon."

Mako replied, grateful for the out Herc was giving her.

"Why not?"

"The scientists wanted some information from Raleigh and me. Chuck was in Physio most of the morning and afternoon. She knew you were coming, so she told me to actually have some alone time with Raleigh for once. She's got Max."

Herc blinked and tried to not be surprised that his daughter had actually noticed that Mako and Raleigh needed time together. Although they were no longer pilots, the bond that they had from being drift compatible pulled at them with the need to be restored once in a while. Being drift compatible was something that needed to be strengthened in case it caused backlash in the Rangers. He hadn't noticed, but then, he had a biological bond with Chuck and he wasn't around as much as he had been in the past.

Trust Chuck to notice. But to act on it? That had been the most surprising thing for him. That Chuck wasn't as egotistical and selfish as she had been and that she was trying to be nice more often than not.

"Sir? She does have Max there, so she isn't alone."

"Oh. No Mako. I wasn't worried about Chuck. She's a big girl and she's strong enough now to handle being alone. It's something else. Have a good time. I'll see you tomorrow, all right?"

Mako nodded, the flush deepening as Herc nodded at her and resumed his brisk pace towards his daughter.

But as he walked, he swore that he could still feel the slightness of her bones and the compact muscle over it.

Herc tried to push it out of his mind, but the feeling of Mako's shoulders under his hands stayed with him and he couldn't help but to want to run back and embrace her. His Ranger training kept him walking toward Chuck and away from her, though. He couldn't go there. Mako was his daughter's age. The beloved daughter of Stacker, who had given his daughter another shot at life with his last actions. He had seen her grow up alongside his daughter. From one of the quiet recruits to piloting a Jaeger alongside Raleigh.

He couldn't ignore all that history.

Even if he was fairly positive that if he did, Mako would respond.

But it wasn't the time and he needed to see and talk to his daughter at that moment.

He would make time, Herc promised himself as he stepped into Chuck's room. He knew he would.

He found Chuck sitting up, dressed in the soft clothes her skin could tolerate and Max on her lap. He tried to not focus on the missing fingers on her hand as she scratched Max's ears, making him whine happily at the attention.

Her hair had finally grown out some and she let it flop into her face, reminding him of the bob his wife would style it into. A lifetime ago, it seemed. When he was still an officer in the Australian army and when Chuck was still a little girl in messy dungarees, a gap-toothed smile and answering to "Charlotte."

She heard him come in and she smiled brightly. She was never going to be flawlessly beautiful any more. There were scars, not as noticeable on her face, but still there. Yet, seeing her smile, it didn't matter.

She was smiling and he nearly got teary at the warm welcome he got from her. It had been years. Many years since she had looked like that at him. Just like it had been years since she had let him embrace her.

Like she did now.

She couldn't handle it for long periods of time. At first, it was her injuries and then afterwards because she was awkward in her skin and dealing with it. Then, it got easier. He could as her defences were lowered, inch by inch with him, with Raleigh and even with Mako.

It was a slow, almost painful progress, but he understood and stored away the progresses and etched all the small victories in his memory. They were all changing, but it was painfully obvious that Chuck was even more than the others.

She wouldn't ever be completely healed, but he would take all that he could get. It was a victory, albeit a small one. But still a victory that gave him hope they could go back to finally being father and daughter rather than rivals who shared an intimacy usually reserved for close friends or lovers.

"You're good?"

Chuck snorted, but nodded. "Yeah. I'm good. Just wondering when I can leave. I've been here for almost half a year. I don't think I've stayed anywhere for this long after the academy."

"Yeah, well. Enjoy it. You're coming home tomorrow. The doctors agreed, so it's back to your room with you."

They hadn't quite agreed as readily as Herc had hoped, but he made enough promises for them to finally give the go-ahead.

It hadn't been pleasant, but seeing Chuck's face at that moment had made it all worth it.

"Thanks Dad. I appreciate it."

Hearing those words had made it even more so.

~*~*~*~*

Mako didn't even realize that she had been watching Herc walk away until Raleigh came and bumped shoulders with her, snapping her out of her trance.

"Ready to go?"

Her eyes widened and she had no words at that moment. Her mouth had gone dry. She only nodded at him and he shot her an odd look, but held his tongue.

At least until they were sitting on the same ledge they had sat on after the first disastrous drift they had experienced.

"You mind explaining what was that all about back there?"

Mako gasped and turned her head to face him, to gauge his reaction as to whether he was teasing or curious. But all she saw was earnestness in his face, so she decided to reply. He knew hints of it already, from being in the drift.

"It was the reason why Chuck and I didn't really get to become friends." She replied tersely, hoping that it would be enough to satisfy his curiosity and leave it at that.

Raleigh's eyebrows shot up at the cryptic answer.

"Is she that much of an egotist? That she can't stand having her father even talk to other people?"

Mako shook her head, her cheeks feeling as if they were on fire.

"It wasn't egocentrism. It was insecurity. That is all I'm going to say about it. I cannot speak for her."

Raleigh shrugged and took a sip of the overly strong coffee that not even gobs of coffee whitener and sugar could subdue. He swallowed down the mouthful he had as he mulled Mako's replies with the flickers and brief memories he had gotten from her.

"She's changed."

Mako frowned, unsure of why Raleigh was bringing that up in the conversation.

Chuck had changed. They all had noticed that fact. She was actually surprised that they could talk now. Or just sit quietly while Chuck fought to keep her eyes open and listen to Mako reading after a hard bout of physio. The fact that she had enough patience to sit and listen to Mako's voice was surprising to everyone, since Chuck had never been one to sit still.

She was also more willing to be silent and to be grateful. Mako was still shocked whenever Chuck thanked her every night after they parted ways. It made the days when Chuck was sulky and unresponsive easier to cope with and made it less likely that she or Raleigh would storm out and not come back again.

It still didn't explain why Raleigh had brought it up. He wasn't a person to keep on talking about the obvious.

"She has."

Mako agreed cautiously, searching for the tell-tale twitch on Raleigh's face that would give at least some of his intentions, if not all of them, away.

"So if Chuck's changed, then maybe she wouldn't...You know...mind so much if you-"

"Raleigh!"

"-Let Herc know how you feel about him."

Raleigh finished calmly, sipping the last of his coffee leisurely while Mako sat there in complete shock.

"I cannot do that! Raleigh! He is the Marshall now! He's know me since I was a cadet in the academy!"

Raleigh shrugged. "So? What does it matter? So he's a bit older than you. So what? You're going to stand there and do nothing? We're not going to stay here for the rest of our lives, Mako."

Raleigh pointed out in a matter of fact tone that made Mako look at him as if he had suddenly taken leave of his senses.

"I can't, Raleigh. You weren't there the last time. If I liked Herc-" Raligh snorted and Mako scowled at him, but continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, "I won't come between them. Not when Herc came so close to losing Chuck. That is the last thing I want to do."

"So you're going to let what happened with Chuck in the past stop you from being happy? Mako, you're brave. Braver than you think. Don't let this stop you from talking to Herc. I've seen how you look at him. How he looks at you."

Mako bit her lip. Raleigh was right. She did like Herc. She had developed a deep attraction to him the minute she had laid eyes on him. Even though Sensei suspected, she had never breathed a word of it to him. Had never indicated anything else than respect for the rugged Australian Ranger.

A respect that Herc had afforded her when she had entered the academy and had risen to the top to rival his own daughter. He didn't suspect a thing, she was sure of it. She was simply another cadet, the daughter of the Marshall and nothing more.

But Chuck, with her sharp eyes and shrewd intuition, had noticed.

That had been the end of what could have been a possible friendship and had pitted them against each other. Chuck had ignored her, had warned her with just a few glances and cutting phrases spoken with a sneer that she wasn't to be near Hercules Hansen.

Mako had backed away, despite regretting it. She had gravitated toward Raleigh. She wouldn't deny that she found him attractive and intriguing. But he wasn't the one that she was attracted to in that way. She had tried. Had wanted it slightly. But it was always Herc that her daydreams and occasional dreams had strayed to.

She hadn't thought of it after the Kaijus were gone and the drift closed. There was too much to do and Chuck's condition hadn't made it possible for her to think of it, so worried they all had been for her. It wasn't until after the infections had cleared and the grafts taken and the radiation was subdued that Mako started to let herself remember her attraction.

The seed of it had been planted after that first night she had brought Herc Max and some food. She had never expected him to reveal so much. Even under stress, he had been cool and composed. She had learned so much that time. She had learned more as the months went on and she had started to fall again.

She had perfected the trick of looking at him through her eyelashes or when she was sure no one else was noticing. She had memorized the lines of his shoulders. Had noticed the way his uniform fit when he had a meeting or a function to be at and they were required to attend in full uniform.

Mako had always been careful. It was just a bad piece of luck that Raleigh had noticed it. And was determined to push her to take action. But what else could she expect from him? He had always believed in her and she loved that stubborn faith he had in her when he didn't seem to have that much of it for himself.

"Maybe. But you could be very wrong, Raleigh."

Raleigh shrugged, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips as well.

"Maybe. But if I'm not...I want to be at the wedding."

Mako scoffed, picked up her tray and stood up in one fluid motion.

"Keep dreaming, Becket."

Raleigh's smile only got wider as he too stood up and they walked back to the mess to clean up and see if Tendo was free.

~*~*~*~*~

"Why did you treat Mako so badly before?"

Chuck's eyes widened, then narrowed at the unexpected question coming from Raleigh as he leaned against the door frame and watched her limp around her room and pack the odds and ends that had accumulated from her months of occupancy in the place.

Chuck's mouth twisted and she scratched at the itch the tightening of the skin on her face caused on and off. The grafts had taken, but the nerve endings were slightly shot. She then pushed her hair out of her face, forcing herself to stay calm and not snap at Raleigh.

"What?  Did she say anything to you?" Chuck asked, pausing in her packing. She was finally leaving the hospital room that had been her home for the last four months and she wanted to be gone by the afternoon. She realized now that if Raleigh wanted to talk, it wasn't going to happen.

She sighed and stood up, wincing at the movement. She had been working hard at physio and was less stiff than before, but she still had days.

"We had a conversation." Raleigh replied cautiously, making Chuck's jaw twitch at the cryptic reply.

"Then why are you asking me about something that happened almost eight years ago? We didn't get along. We were rivals and yeah, I was a bitch. What else do you want to hear?"

She hadn't meant to sound so childish and so defensive, but she didn't want to relive those days. She wasn't proud of taking out her issues on Mako. She had just lost her mother and her father was always away and Max wasn't even in the picture. She wanted her father all to herself when he was around and could see now that she was being selfish.

She had also wanted to be friends with Mako and wanted for Mako to be her co-pilot. Chuck was sure that they could have been as good, or as better as the Beckets. Hell, they could possibly even be on the same Ranger squadron and maybe even meet the Beckets? They were the top of their class. It should have been that way.

But it hadn't and when she noticed Mako getting all shy around her father...It had been the last straw.

Mako had Stacker. Had his attention and most of his affection. Ironically enough, Chuck had been the one who Stacker had managed to save and she was still conflicted about owing that much to a dead man. She wouldn't deny that she was glad for the second chance. She just hated that she owed it to the father of the person who tried to take away Herc from him. She didn't dare forget that she had done what she had feared to Mako instead.

That knowledge made it even harder to speak about the past and relive her less than stellar words and actions now that things had irrevocably changed.

She was also aware that this was a parallel to their first altercation. She had been upset about nearly losing her father due to Mako's mistake and Raleigh had come forth.

Just like now.

Except that Chuck was determined it wasn't going to end in a fist fight. Maybe shouts and insults and maybe a cracked plausible friendship, but nothing more than that. She was done fighting the only people she really could call friends. She was done being a woman apart from everyone else.

Raleigh pushed himself off of the frame and went to stand in front of her, within speaking distance still but not within swinging distance. Just in case. Her tempter had calmed, but it was still there and he was pushing her. He was well aware of it.

"I'm not asking to piss you off or make you remember that. I want to know if she were to talk to you dad...Would she have a chance?"

Chuck's mouth fell open and she turned so pale and shaky that Raleigh felt it was necessary to grab her in case she fainted.

"Are you...She's still...I thought you and her...What the fuck, Rawleigh! Let go of me!"

She finally managed to sputter and tried pushing him away, but he held on.

"Easy. Easy, Chuck. You look like you're going to fall on your ass and no, I'm not letting you go. Not when I finally have you. So I'm going to ask you again: Why did you treat Mako so bad?"

Chuck glared at him murderously and gave a token struggle, both knowing full well that it was for show. If she had been healthy, Raleigh would have had a hard time holding on to her. As it was, she gave a few tries before she finally slumped in his grasp, privately grateful he was holding her up. She didn't trust her left leg to hold up just then.

"I just lost my mum and dad was away so much. I didn't get Max 'til much later. I didn't want to share my dad anymore than I had to, awright? And I knew she liked him and I think...maybe he liked her too."

Her head fell forward and her forehead rested on his collarbone and she sighed, wanting to bury her face into the softness of Raleigh's navy jumper and not keep on talking about her past.

She had to. She wanted to be honest with him, now that she had gotten to know him and Mako after all those months of them being at her side, seeing her at her weakest and most vulnerable. She also wanted Raleigh to see something different than just the egotistical and childish brat she had been before the last battle.

Raleigh felt uncomfortable at pushing her to talk, but he had to know whether she was still adamantly against Mako and Herc getting together. He didn't want to see Mako pine away. Not when he was sure that her feelings would be reciprocated with alacrity.

He also wanted to know whether he could take a chance to share his heart with her. He sometimes had glimpses, or gotten hints from her and Herc that there was more than just animosity that she held towards him. He didn't think it was possible, but the more time they spent together...He could see it.

A stray touch, a slight blush, awkward pauses. He had known that Chuck hadn't been worldly at all. Her and Mako had eschewed a normal life in pursuit of being the best. She acted similarly to the girls in school, when they had flirted with him back in middle school.

He figured that had been the reason why he hadn't taken it seriously when Mako had hinted at it and when Herc had started to treat him with caution. He had been hurt by Herc's about face, but he understood that Herc simply wanted to protect his little girl from getting her heart broken on top of her body being damaged.

"I thought too, we would be compatible. That we'd pilot a jaeger together and beat you and your brother. That I'd be able to succeed where my dad failed. Maybe even meet you and fight beside you. I worshipped you, you know that?"

She raised her head and looked at him, her expression embarrassed at admitting that he had been one of her childhood heroes. Herc had said as much and she had hinted at it. But this was the first time that she had said it out loud. Without rancour or regret.

He did some quick maths and rapidly pieced the rest of the story together: She had lost a possible connection with Mako and lost the connection to her hero at the same time. Herc had been pulled away then, meeting the demands of the Ranger program and all she had been left with was Max.

At least until she was found to be compatible with her father. Despite being at the top, she had to be the second to her father. The man she despised for not saving her mother, yet adored and admired in equal measure.

And he had come back and had been lauded as a hero when she simply saw her father's mistakes in him. And Mako had become his co-pilot. He could understand. He really could. She was only a child and had to cope the best way that she had known.

Yet despite all of her unfocused rage, she had still stepped into Striker and gone on a suicide run without hesitation. She was her father's daughter, all right.

In all sorts of ways that Herc acknowledged and also refused to acknowledge.

"Yeah. I did. But heroes fall, Chuck. We're all human. We all make mistakes.'

He let go of her upper arms and instead cupped her face in his hands.

"So when are you going to stop punishing yourself for being alive? When will you stop punishing your dad, Mako and I for the past?"

Her eyes flickered up to meet his and she shuddered, her breathing getting erratic as his face got closer to hers.

His lips hovered over hers and he could feel her trembling in anticipation.

"When are you going to forgive?"

Chuck wet her lips, looked at him straight in the eye and replied.

"I think I can start now."

The words had barely left her lips when Raleigh kissed her, pressing his lips against hers, tracing the shape of them with his tongue before capturing her bottom lip with his own. Chuck sighed and let her lips part to let him in and taste all of her.

She tasted fresh, with a slight hint of medicine from the meds and mint from her toothpaste. But she tasted better than he had imagined. She was warm and soft and despite her inexperience, she was learning and she too, was exploring, tasting him and sucking gently at his tongue.

He lost himself in the kiss and his hands moved down. Past her shoulders, skimming her waist to rest on her hips. He pulled her close and she was flush against his chest, her heart beating a rapid tattoo through her grey jumper as her heat seeped into his skin.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, deepening the kiss and letting out breathy moans as it deepened. She wanted him, as much as he wanted her. All the dancing that they had done before had finally come to this.

He led her backward, toward the bed and they crashed awkwardly onto it. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered now except to be together as closely as possible without drifting.

He pulled away briefly, to strip his jumper off and to help her do the same. Chuck's eyes were glassy with desire and lust as she lay there in a sports bra. She traced his scars, much less noticeable than hers and made him shudder under her careful touch.

He didn't move to touch hers and was careful only to caress the smooth skin. He knew she was still sensitive about the extensive scarring and he didn't want to ruin this moment.

"Sit up for a bit." He murmured, hooking his fingers under her pajama trousers. He was just about to yank them off her hips when a strangled sound that was a cross between a scream and a choke stopped him.

"Uh. Herc!"

"DAD!"

"Dammit Chuck! You couldn't wait until you got to your room? Although I'm finally glad you've finally gotten over yourselves... I DID NOT need to see this in the flesh!"

"You had fanatasies-"

"Shut up Rawley!"

"It's Rahleigh, Charlotte."

"I said SHUT UP!"

~*~*~*~*~

Mako was shocked when she saw Herc swiftly walking down the hallway and away from Raleigh and Chuck.

"Is everything okay? Did something happen with Chuck and Raleigh?"

She asked, putting her hand on his arm once she had caught up with him.

Herc stopped and looked at her, his shocked expression disappearing when he saw it was a concerned Mako that had stopped him.

"Yeh. They're quite okay. More than okay. In fact-"

He stopped himself and met Mako's gaze.

As embarrassing as it was to have nearly walked in on his daughter losing her virginity with Raleigh, he couldn't deny that it wasn't a bad sight per say. He had gotten flashes of it in drifts. Impressions, once she had gotten better at handling the drift and her anger had gotten the better of her.

He had known how much Raleigh had meant to her. How much she had wanted to be his equal. Maybe even surpass him.

And how that desire had been nearly crushed under disappointments she was ill-prepared to handle.

Herc had hoped that Chuck would move past that, now that she had gotten another chance at living a life that wasn't comprised of just following him around and fighting for an uncertain future and certain injury and death. He had seen signs of it. In the smiles that came much more easily, in her tentative overtures during her convalescence.  
It had all been there. It was just a matter of time.

And it had finally come.

It was also the time for him to finally speak up and stop hiding behind duties of both rank and family.

He licked his lips and took a deep breath before he finally just decided to go for it.

"Mako, I...I know that I'm maybe too old, or this is a bad time, but I want to-"

He was cut off by Mako jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. A kiss that was full of passion he hadn't felt since his wife had last kissed him. He didn't think twice about kissing Mako back.

Despite his apprehensions, it felt...if not perfect, than close to it.

It assuaged the loneliness that had plagued him since Darwin and replaced most of it with warmth and some kind of hope.

"You can't believe how long I've wanted to hear you say that."

Mako whispered, her eyes shining brightly after they had reluctantly pulled away from each other.

Herc smiled.

"You probably can't believe how long I've wanted you to do that."

Mako's smile got wider.

"I can."

He laughed softly at that and kissed the corner of her mouth, embracing her tightly and letting himself sink into the softness of her little brown cardigan, the faint scent of a delicate perfume and her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been digging into the background info for stuff and made it that Chuck and Mako were rivals in the Academy, creating a deep animosity in regards to a possible rivalry that would have developed between them in that time. 
> 
> Also, one thing I did notice about Chuck as a friend of mine and I discussed the movie again: Chuck is protective of Herc. He may not be all lovey-dovey, but he truly cares and wants to shield him from harm as much as Herc does to him. Also, this is possibly why he seems like he hoards the time he has with Herc, because he shares him far too often with the rest of the world. 
> 
> Herc and Mako-I can see her developing a crush that blossoms into an attraction for Herc. He does share similar traits with Stacker and that would be something that would initially spur her on. Herc's also not a bad looking man, but Chuck again would be very adamant about this happening. Herc, for his part acknowledges that a spark is there, but wouldn't make the move until Mako indicated she wanted it to happen and was of age. He's not a creepy old man, is basically the point I'm making.
> 
> Chuck and Raleigh-I can so see Chuck turning on her hero and punishing herself for believing in him and also that admiration and attraction turning into revulsion. She's got loads of guilt and anger and can't forgive herself for being human. When she finally does and understands, she can then move on and actually return back to what the attraction was in the first place and accept Raleigh and a new life.
> 
> I did do research on the injuries, but this isn't my field and if I have made mistakes, my apologies. 
> 
> Also, sorry for the long notes.

**Author's Note:**

> In my head-cannon, Chuck and Herc lived in Darwin when the Kaiju attacks happened and most of the survivors were relocated more inland and Alice Springs for some reason made sense as a hub to be relocated to. It's also were Mrs. Hansen might have died, so that's why I'm putting that in there. 
> 
> Chuck and Herc know a lot about each other and have good intentions towards each other, but they can't verbalize a lot of their problems with each other. Raleigh and Mako serve as a balance here and can offer perspective, because they can be a bridge between Herc and Chuck as they also figure out how to deal with Chuck.
> 
> And Chuck's first name is Charlotte and her appearance would be Haley Atwell. Yep.


End file.
